Haley Boyer

Self- Reflection

Teaching Demonstration

This teaching demonstration was a learned exercise in adaptability. My lesson

plan was to introduce the Bb blues scale to a beginning instrumental ensemble, which in

front of any traditional ensemble made of winds would have been perfectly acceptable.

However, as this class is a melting pot of instrumentalists and vocalists of all

instruments and voice types, I stood in front of this class and quickly realized that all the

planning I had done rendered obsolete. Using a mixture of mallet percussion

instruments distributed to the vocalists, I did my best to make sure this was an

instrumental ensemble, or as much as I could make it one. Some of them simply didn’t

have the notes needed for this scale. They were also mostly in C, which changed my

plan from Bb blues to C blues. Which meant that my backing track wouldn’t work, but

then the internet went down on the computer I was using just as I was trying to load a

backing track in C. So, obviously there was much to be desired in terms of smooth

transitions and relevant planning. However, I believe I made the most of it. I asked the

percussionists to play whatever notes of the scale they had available, and went through

the construction of the scale for all transposing instruments. I eventually loaded a

backing track in C and successfully directed the students through playing the scale in

multiple rhythmic values against the music. So although I faced a lot of challenges, and

many things could have gone smoother, including things like pacing and transitions, I

would consider the teaching demonstration as a whole, a success.